The River Bulbourne is a river in Hertfordshire

Hertfordshire

Hertfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England. The county town is Hertford.The county is one of the Home Counties and lies inland, bordered by Greater London , Buckinghamshire , Bedfordshire , Cambridgeshire and...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. It runs from Dudswell in Northchurch

Northchurch

Northchurch is a village and civil parish in the Bulbourne valley in Hertfordshire lying between Berkhamsted and Tring.Situated on the Roman road Akeman Street, a major Roman villa dating from about AD 60 was discovered in the village in the 1970s. The settlement predates the neighbouring larger...

, through Berkhamsted

Berkhamsted

-Climate:Berkhamsted experiences an oceanic climate similar to almost all of the United Kingdom.-Castle:...

 , Bourne End

Bourne End, Hertfordshire

Bourne End is a village in Hertfordshire, England. It is situated on the A41 between Berkhamsted and Hemel Hempstead. There was a rail disaster on the West Coast Main Line at Bourne End on September 30, 1945 when an express train was derailed with many fatalities.Its name comes from the Bourne...

 and Boxmoor

Boxmoor

Boxmoor, or Boxmoor Village, is a district of Dacorum in Hertfordshire, England. It is now part of Hemel Hempstead. It is a district of mainly nineteenth century housing and meadowland, repeatedly cut through by transport links from London to the The Midlands....

 to where it joins the River Gade

River Gade

The River Gade is a river running almost entirely though Hertfordshire. It rises from a spring in the chalk of the Chiltern Hills at Dagnall, Buckinghamshire and flows through Hemel Hempstead, Kings Langley and Croxley Green to Rickmansworth where it joins the The River Colne...

 at Two Waters in Apsley

Apsley

Apsley is a 19th century mill town in the county of Hertfordshire, England. It is a historic industrial site situated in a valley of the Chiltern Hills. It is positioned below the confluence of two permanent rivers, the Gade and Bulbourne. In an area of little surface water this was an obvious site...

 near Hemel Hempstead

Hemel Hempstead

Hemel Hempstead is a town in Hertfordshire in the East of England, to the north west of London and part of the Greater London Urban Area. The population at the 2001 Census was 81,143 ....

. The total length of the river is 11 Km.

Its actual source is disputed. Claims are made for the village of Bulbourne and also for springs above Dudswell. Much of the Grand Union Canal

Grand Union Canal

The Grand Union Canal in England is part of the British canal system. Its main line connects London and Birmingham, stretching for 137 miles with 166 locks...

 was dug along the course of the original river.

In October 2011 concerns were raised about local water levels when the River Bulbourne dried up. Local commentators blamed increased water consumption brought about by the number of new property developments in Berkhamsted, although the Environment Agency

Environment Agency

The Environment Agency is a British non-departmental public body of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and an Assembly Government Sponsored Body of the Welsh Assembly Government that serves England and Wales.-Purpose:...

 and the Veolia water company claimed it was due to a low water table caused by lack of rainfall.

The Bourne Gutter is a small tributary of the Bulbourne rising between Berkhamsted and Bourne End. According to local legend it is a "Woe Water", said to only flow at time of national emergency. Its recent flows in 1990 and 2002 coincided with wars between Britain and Iraq.

External links

• River Bulbourne interactive map on the Chilterns AONB website